Just watched this interesting little clip! https://youtube.com/shorts/xtB14g3yptM?feature=share Don't know why it won't allow it as embedded! Suggests Red Bull have found a loop hole in the aero testing punishment they received!!! Seems like aero testing for air to air cooling is not included in the aero testing rules. So it's no surprise that Red Bull have brought upgrades to air inlet system (engine cooling) and brake ducts without impacting their aero testing 'budget'. That said I would guess other teams are using the same loophole so probably no real difference, other than the other teams have a long way to go before needing to optimising air inlets to gain these small margins?
Don't know how much truth there is in the article I saw but seems the US is falling out of love with F1. Principally because of the Red Bull dominance and in part because Max in not much liked. Suggesting a 25% fall in the TV audience. I think you could say the same here in the UK, if not Europe. https://thesportsrush.com/f1-news-d...an-audience-due-to-max-verstappens-dominance/
I don't think it's just the Max dominance, it feels like there's fewer interesting stories in the midfield this year? Or maybe because the Max dominance has made things dull, I've stopped picking up on midfield things. Like if I was producing the next Drive to Survive series, what actually are the storylines? Perez/Ricciardo/DeVries is one, but beyond that I genuinely can't think of anything you'd actually be able to turn into a storyline. Maybe Hulk returning and outperforming KMag gets an episode so they can lean on Steiner to carry it? But outside of that, it doesn't feel like there's as much intrigue as usual. Ferrari still not being able to do strategy, Hamilton/Merc annoyed at not being at the top are kind of played out.
It’s fair to say that there is less going on in F1 this year, than there has been for a few years. Rules are relatively stable. No suggestion that performance is being unfairly achieved Teammates basically all getting on (even Gasly and Ocon!) and no real rivalry between teams/drivers No sign of an interesting silly season The battle for second back, is quite interesting, but it’s not really manifesting in race, more from race to race, which is less dramatic. I also think the in race direction/commentary has been really poor this year and has shown little context around what is happening further back You’d think also that there’s an element of “reversion to the norm”, the huge wave of interest was probably unsustainable and unjustified as it happened to coincide with an unusually close and dramatic title battle followed by new regs where one of the main protagonists dropped the ball. Much like a fictional series, viewing numbers are inflated by a transient group, who will eventually move on to the next big thing once the hype dies down. The cost of living crisis, accentuates that even more in terms of people actually cancelling subscriptions they aren’t using / getting value from.
Liberty need to learn from this. Keen to dethrone Lewis, by any means, they now need to reign in RBR. Mercedes I think will likely become competitive again but Ferrari and Mclaren are very much needed to be competitive. Ferrari cars are iconic, no more so than in America. Something has to be done to rejunvenate the Ferrari brand. I don't see them cracking this issue easily. We need some years with Ferrari winning titles. Mclaren are on the rise. Aston Martin I think have their sights on the coming new era.
what's the chances of someone coming back with more updates (serious update) between now and end of the season? We've 2 more European races left then its on the road for the long haul asia, and north america legs before finishing at the highest bidders dead rubber race. The only drivers fight is for 3rd the only actual fight in the constructors near the top is for 3rd and i don't think mclaren will join that fight. will teams switch their spend left in 2023 to saving money and pumping whats there into new car?
Bit of housekeeping, we have three mods on the F1 board but I'm the only one who has been active lately, so it might be worth giving an extra person the controls in case something happens whilst I'm away, etc. I barely need to do any modding, it's not exactly an angry forum, but if anyone fancies having the controls for deleting spam, merging threads, etc, let me know.
I was reading an article about the engine regs. for 2026 and it seems that the MGU-K is to be given three times more power. The MGU-H Iis to be left off and a new 100% carbon free fuel is to be used.They will also only be getting 70 litres of fuel as against the 100 litres at the moment. I`m not to sure what MGU-K or MGU-H do,but I `m just quoting from the article. Oh, for the days of V12`s and V10`s.
MGU-K is the kinetic energy portion of the Hybrid engine. In an F1 car it’s located on the output side of the transmission and it is used to provide or absorb power to the wheels - (hence the term kinetic, because it directly impacts the movement of the vehicle). Most road hybrid vehicles use a variant of this technology (although the motor placement in the drivetrain does vary). In today’s rule set the energy you can capture through this path is limited. MGU-H is a motor attached to the turbo charger, which indirectly recovers energy from the exhaust gasses (the H represents heat). The motor is attached to the compressor/turbine shaft, so can be used to spin the compressor up (avoids turbo lag), but mostly to provide energy to the MGU-K. The energy captured by this path is unlimited by regulation and this part (which has little relevance to your average road car) has been one of the two key battlegrounds in this engine era (along with combustion technology). This part is tricky, because of the high speeds and accelerations plus the heat and vibrations make it hard to simultaneously be effective, efficient and reliable. The synthetic fuel volume I hadn’t heard and is interesting. Commercial synthetic fuels are around 25% less energy dense than regular gasoline/petrol and energy balance/availability is going to be the challenge with the new regs (hence the need for active aero). I wonder if one goal here is to open up energy density as a development battleground?
Alpha Tauri have struck a deal with clothing company Hugo Boss and will be renamed `Boss` or `Boss Orange`.
I thought the reason they changed their name from TR to Alpha Tauri was to launch a clothing brand! Looks like that didn't go too well.
Maybe Alpha Tauri feel that they have established themselves well enough in their business now and don`t need to pay sponsorship money for advertising anymore to a Formula 1 racing team. Anyway I think Hugo Boss is a well known clothing manufacturer to the general public and the new name will lead them to a stronger position in the championship.Not too keen on the new name though,Hugo Boss Racing sounds much more like an F1 team than just Boss or Boss Orange.
Hugo Boss have been the sponsor for Alex Thompson and his Vendee Globe attempts (5 in 20 years). No idea where those 20 years went. Alex has stepped away from doing next years race but may return in 2028. Known as Hugo Boss I agree Boss or Boss Orange doesn't have the same impact but is in direct support of their brands.
